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Published 21 years ago
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Intensifying HIV Prevention

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Affiliation
Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS)
Summary

The authors hope to place HIV prevention “at the centre of the AIDS agenda” through this response to the United Nations’ Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS.
Prevention measures, they believe, are central to global HIV/AIDS efforts because increasing numbers of people infected with HIV strain both prevention and treatment programmes. They point out that currently only one in five people at risk of contracting HIV has access to HIV prevention services and cite estimates that improved prevention measures could avert 29% of new cases between 2002 and 2010. The authors indicate that the cost of prevention measures will increase the delay in addressing these issues.



According to the authors, the synergy between HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programmes has proven successful, and they suggest building on that synergy. The authors point out that when people have access to treatment programmes, this encourages testing for HIV, which helps the prevention effort. Treatment programmes also have the benefit of established advocacy groups, a resource the authors believe prevention programmes should utilise. Attention, they feel, has recently focused on the latest treatments at the expense of the prevention effort. Instead, they believe that the two efforts should work together.



National ownership of HIV prevention plans is essential, according to the authors. They propose a step-by-step plan of action for developing an effective national prevention programme. The proposed process begins with establishing a national task force and assessing the current status of the epidemic and the local response. This process proceeds through to developing an effective national plan and supporting it through continuous evaluation and information sharing.



UNAIDS’ own efforts should, conclude the authors, focus on supporting the national ownership of prevention efforts through a variety of measures including:

  • Advocacy efforts
  • Policy development
  • Technical support
  • Coordination and harmonisation of HIV prevention efforts
  • Tracking, monitoring and evaluation of HIV prevention programmes.

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Source

UNAIDS website.